


The story of the Dragon Witch

by RandomCoil



Series: Sanders Sides- AU [1]
Category: Sanders Sides, Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF, prinxiety-fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval Setting, Angst, Dragons, Fluff and Angst, Kingdoms, M/M, Magic, Multi, Princes & Princesses, Sorecerers, Witchcraft, Witches, Wizards, lots of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-05-06 03:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14633592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomCoil/pseuds/RandomCoil
Summary: Virgil, also known as the "Dragon Witch" always thought he would die on a stake for all of the mistakes and the horrible deeds he managed to cause the world.When the chance of saving the one person so near his heart appears Virgil doesn't hesitate.Many say the death is only the beginning, but for Virgil, it would be the cherry on top of this spoiled, rotting, decomposing and disgusting cake called his life.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I had this strange dream I just had to write down and show all of You. It gave me an idea for a whole tale that I'm currently working on since then. It can be read as a one-shot for those without patience, but for the rest of You I have to say its going to take some time before a couple of next chapters are going to be out, I'm going to primarly focus on writing down chapters for my "The Death of a Violin" and yet another... story... I have in mind and is soon going to be out :P 
> 
> Nonetheless, please enjoy :)

Virgil could feel the heat slowly getting to him. The once playful and beautiful fire, so bright but so so dark at the same time, hissing and dancing in an eerie manner, climbing up the dry grass at the foot of the wooden pole. Virgil's hands began to throb painfully as the hard and sharp rope was irritating the now raw skin around his wrists, cutting off the bloodstream in his hands. Despite the fact that his whole body was aching from the many blows, hits, and cuts, he would stand stiff with his head held high, looking at the crowd before him, looking for this one face he had to see before letting go. _This one face._

And then…

Then he could go peacefully, knowing that he served his purpose…

That for once, he managed to do the right thing...

That he managed to save this one person he ever cared for…

The only person he ever loved…

He just had to see _his_ face one more time…

Just to make sure his own sacrifice would not go in vain!

Just one, last time.

“Please, I have to see _you_ ,” Virgil whispered, almost begging.

The crowd, so loud, laughing and pointing fingers at him, shouting insult and curses. All this amok merged in a cacophony of voices and tangled words, muffled by the blood rushing in his veins, roaring in his ears, making his head spin and lull slowly up and down, side to side.

But Virgil…Virgil would not show them any sign of weakness, his face would remain mostly emotionless except for the ever-present, crooked smirk on his lips and the darkness and pain hidden deep within his amethyst eyes.

He would not give them the satisfaction.

He would not let them see how betrayed he felt.

He would never let them know how painful it was to see the people he once thought he could trust and live amongst… now standing before him and watching him await his long-promised death.

He would never.

The fire, finally finished with devouring the grass and the woodpile, slowly began entwining his legs with long and sharps tongues of scorching glimmer; burning his skin; covering it in bleeding, open wounds; blackening his feet. It would take time for the flames to get through his once so pale and so soft skin, now covered with dark and iridescent black scales reflexing the last rays of the setting summer sun and the unrelenting fire. Virgil would let go only if he would see _his_ face. Not sooner. Keeping his guard, letting his impenetrable scales cover every surface of his body that the fire tried so briskly to feed on.

But Virgil would not let go before he would see _him_ one last time.

Just this once.

As the sun has gone beyond the horizon; enveloping the trees, the flowers and the people; plunging everything in darkness except for this well-lit by the bonfire beneath Virgil’s feet, stone square, where Virgil would soon meet his demise.

Everything would soon be over.

All the pain would soon go away.

He just had to see _his_ face one last time.

And there _he_ was. The dark, brown hair, so much lighter and contrasting with Virgils own black raven hair. The golden highlights; lazily curling at the tips of _his_ hair; surrounding his beautiful, irreproachable face. _He_ stared Virgil down with the greenest eyes Virgil has ever seen, shining brightly like two huge emeralds from behind long, black eyelashes; wide open in disbelief and terror. _He_ was so gorgeous and perfect it pained Virgil it would be the last time he would be able to see _him._ Virgil tried to burn the image of _him_ deep inside his own wicked mind.

 _He_ was here.

 _He_ was safe.

Virgil let his sick and dark magic go; lowering his guard and letting the fire climb up his now naked legs; awaiting the pain to come and embrace him. _He_ shouted after Virgil with a heart-wrenching growl, pushing through the crowd, trying to break through to him. Virgil smiled as the fire was now reaching his chest. It would take time for the flames to pierce the skin, but the moment would finally come and Virgil would be no longer.

Virgil saved _him_.

He managed to save _his_ life.

Managed to save _him_ from Virgil himself.

“No, no, nonono! NO! **NO! NO! VIRGIL!”** _He_ cried, still too far away to reach the slender man before him. Virgil's heart swelled with pride, with all the feelings, with the love Virgil felt towards _this_ _man._ Virgil was happy that he got the chance to know this man, to know someone as amazing as _him._

**“PLEASE, STOP IT! VIRGIL! VIRGIL! PLEASE, SOMEBODY!”**

It was the last gift Virgil could give _him._

**“VIRGIL; HANG ON!** **IM COMING!** **IM GOING TO GET YOU!”**

Virgil promised.

**“VIRGIL!”**

Virgil promised to set _him_ free…

**“PLEASE!”**

Virgil would burn on the stake thousand times over for _him._

**“SOMEBODY!”**

…And with Virgil's death, _he_ would be free.

 

“I’m sorry, Roman.”

**”NO!”**

 

”I love you.”


	2. 53325 days until trial.

His mother always told him that the world outside of their little hut was dangerous…

That the humans were not to be trusted…

That it was them who were the real monsters here, not any of their own kind or the countless other ones that humans tried to suppress and enslave for their own benefit and enrichment…

And he believed her wholeheartedly.

“Since the war between the mythical beings from the Scorching Lands and the people of Broken Mountains had begun for a little over five-hundred years ago; ending after almost a two centuries long massacre of spilling innocent blood of both men, women, children and everything in-between, the two Kingdoms had parted for good, once upon the time standing tall and proud side by side.

The mythical creatures, once loved and respected- now hated and dreaded, accepted the capitulation and begs for mercy from the king of the Humans, Edward the Third. They left to live on the peripheries of one of the villages within the Heather Steps in hope for a better life with a new start, away from the destruction the war brought upon these lands, only to be trapped there and burned alive by the treacherous humans.

Many various species, counting tens of hundreds of those, became extinct as the humans showed no mercy that dreadful night.

The tales say no one survived.

Not even a single one of the once mighty and invincible beings, that only wanted to live a normal and peaceful life, just as any other human wanted to, survived.

They merely wished to have families of their own...

A place they could call home.

But humans, oh, the ever so disgusting and horrendous pieces of sh-“

“Mom, I get the point.” Virgil sighed and curled upon himself even more, his knees brought up and tucked under his chin as he tried to make himself as small as possible in his bed, hidden under a piece of cloth that most probably has once been a blanket.

“Oh, I know you do, my little dragon-prince. I just enjoy telling you this story, you know, it is re-“

“-really important to you, since your mother helped a lot of us to flee from the village. You’ve told me this story countless times, and already by the fourth time I knew it word by word.” Virgil interrupted his mother, rolling his eyes but smiling warmly as the woman in front of him just giggled, not bothered by his son's slightly irritated tone and his attitude of a know-it-all. It really wasn’t the first time she told him this story. And it wouldn’t be the last time either.

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.” She whispered, lazily placing a kiss on his forehead and tucking him even tighter in the cloth.

“How could I? You tell me this story every night.” He sighed tiredly, making more room in the make-shift bed his mother managed to bring all the way up here a few years ago, really being just a couple of boards nailed together and filled with some hay, but a bed nonetheless.

“Oh, do I?” She asked, laying down beside him and embracing him, wrapping her arms around Virgil’s body tightly in what might seem to anyone else a bone-crushing hug. To Virgil, it felt merely as a touch of a feather.

“Yes, you do.” He snuggled closer, lowering and straightening his legs and entwining them with his mothers. The woman only hummed in response, moving with her magic yet another piece of some fabric and covering both of them, tucking the two ready to sleep.

Until Virgil haven’t dozed off, his mother would hum him cantations of different spells and charms, never mentioning the name or use of them, but adamant to let her daug- son, to let her son stay in touch with his true nature as much as possible. The day she would teach him all she knew would finally come, but not quite yet.

Every night, the same old ritual took place. Day after day, month after month, year after year, century after century, making sure Virgil would never even want to go outside of the safety of their little hut, especially into the small city nearby that humans had occupied quite some time ago.

The tales his mother had spoken to him about made him quite reluctant about leaving his mother’s side. She would always try to scare him away from the city that she didn’t even know he had already seen it, having once spotted it all those years ago when he was at one of his hunts.

He wasn’t supposed to go there, or rather his mother didn’t want him to, so he never really bothered.

Virgil never really paid any attention to the outside world after that one day, staying in the shadows of his ever so protective mother, venturing away from the safeness of his home only to hunt, follow his mother into the forest to help her search for some herbs and other plants or to the nearby river to wash their clothes.

After all, everything they needed was nearby- their own little garden by the hut sufficed them with enough vegetables and fruits to live off from and whenever his mother felt like eating meat, only then, she would send Virgil alone off to the forest for a hunt for some smaller animal or so with his magic or the small knife she once bought many years ago from a traveling merchant.

…

Elenore (his mother) had sent him earlier this morning for some hunting to the part of the forest Virgil was most familiar with, aka. the one that was as far away from the city as possible, all the way up in the mountains. Everything was going rather smoothly and Virgil already had caught two rabbits, currently looking for the third one that would be the last he’d have to kill today. Virgil knew his mother didn’t eat that much, which neither did he, so it usually wasn’t all that much more Virgil had to hunt to satisfy their stomachs for the next couple of days. He spotted a big brown furred animal nibbling on some berries by the tree mere meters away from him, so he stopped and raised his hand, aiming.

What Virgil didn’t see coming was a group of humans scaring his prey away with their loud antics.

Not used to contact with any human beings besides the tales of his mother, he hid within the bushes, carefully watching the group from afar, deciding that he would never again venture to this part of the forest if he had a say in this.

It was a group of four, well- Not really four, as it seemed like the fourth person was dragged here rather than followed them by their own construction, judging by the sack on their head and tied with rope limbs. Every single one of the residing men was carrying some sort of sword as well as some metal armor with ease… Which probably meant they were used to using these items on a daily basis, but as Virgil watched them pass him by he could swear they looked nothing like the knights his mother told him day after day.

Since it looked rather suspicious, and Virgil never really had the chance to study the ones that caused so much trouble for his folk, Virgil decided to follow the intruders and see what they were up to, against almost all of the rules he himself had set in his mind, the first one being “avoid any contact with the humans” and second “don’t do stupid things only idiots would do”.

Damn, was Virgil being stupid.

Almost three-hundred and twenty-nine years old and as stupid as an infant.

He just hoped he wouldn’t be the cat that died because of its own curiosity.

While the strangers didn’t look particularly friendly and Virgil was equipped with nothing but his knife, he knew if it came down to fight, he probably would manage to get himself out of the quarrel unscathed…

Or at least capable of getting back home before he’d bleed out for his mother to patch him up…

Or just surviving long enough before his mother would find his unconscious body to heal before he would be gone for good.

Despite his mother being a very powerful witch, she was nothing like her short temper and cold-stares filled with hate and ferocity mother, Virgil’s grandmother. It was actually far from it, her magic being full of love and care, making her the most amazing healer ever known within the few Kingdoms that surrounded their own little piece of land. She may be long forgotten by the humans since the Cursed Day that brung doom to the most Mythicals, but amongst their folk there was no one who could ever be even compared to her level of knowledge and practice, making her some sort of a guru for other healers and last chance for those hurt badly and dying.

Virgil on the other hand…

He was the one who would rather bring pain than soothe it as his mother did.

Everyone who knew Virgil since before, counting the few other Mythicals living nearby and a couple of hundreds from all over the Kingdom, often told him that he reminded much more his long-dead grandmother rather than his own mother- his magic being much darker and destructive than the healing charms of Elenore, which Virgil learned to use in the early years of his childhood from the said grandmother. If not for the crystal-clear physical resemblance between Virgil and his mother you’d say Virgil wasn’t even a child of her.

Yes, Virgil was almost a perfect copy of his mother, the only visible difference being age and the color of their eyes.

Yes.

Virgil looked almost exactly like his mother.

Raven-black shoulder-long hair that was rather straight (ha!) with the exception for the few waves here and there…

Big amethyst eyes embedded in long and thick eyelashes (his mother’s being deep green)…

A rather small face with cherry-pink lips…

Not really tall, somewhere at 5’7 feet…

Slim waist with wide hips…

Quite big chest…

Small shoulders, small feet and small hands…

Yeah…

He looked like his mother…

Like a woman.

Which he wasn’t… At least not mentally.

It wasn’t common for Virgil's species, the clan of witches that worshipped dragons, to have men being able of witchcraft, but Virgil was one of the few… not really exceptions, but rather cases where you could technically say… that a man possessed the power of witchcraft.

He wasn’t technically a man… Or rather, his body was clearly of a feminine nature, obviously.

It was just that he felt much more comfortable thinking about himself as of a man rather than a woman, but it wasn’t uncommon or unheard of as many may think it would be. There were actually quite many Mythical women who choose to live among humans, decided to hide their feminine features and act like men in order to better blend with the other humans and be able to work on farms, master the art of blacksmith and much more. Many of them felt so comfortable with themselves when asked that they often even denied being born as women in the first place.

And as for Virgil…

Well…

It just felt right… to be called ‘a boy’, so he asked his mother to refer to him as such… Which she gladly did.

No, when it came to appearance, Virgil was most definitely just like his mother.

But when it came to magic…

Sally of the Heather Steps, Virgil’s grandmother and Elenore’s ma was definitely the one Virgil inherited his powers from. The dark magic Virgil has grown to use was definitely nothing like Elenore’s light spells and charms. Being the favorite amongst seven grandchildren of Sally, she really put much into Virgil's education of Magic before she passed away. She taught him everything from the easiest spells being hypnosis and the hardest and definitely most dangerous (and actually quite forbidden) to cast being necromancy. The only time Virgil used those feared and dreaded cantations was years ago when his best friend had fallen ill and died, not even Elenore being able to help him. It was… a disaster… a mistake he should never have done in the first place… Well, it wasn’t like Virgil didn’t succeed in casting the spell… He really did everything as he should, but the outcome… wasn’t something Virgil ever wanted to witness, alone being the one behind it. Since then Virgil never tried again. Maybe it was for the best.

The men in front of him suddenly stopped, interrupting Virgil's train of thoughts. The boy crouched by a huge rock, keeping an eye on the intruders.

One of the three, the tallest and hairless one at that too, held the faceless person on their shoulders, swaying slightly from side to side as if he had a problem with managing the weight of the person, dropping them to the ground. A quiet rumble came from the tied-up prisoner as they hunched upon themselves.

”It’s here, inn’t?” They spoke, kicking lightly the person now lying down on the ground, making the poor person moan in pain. The other two knights snickered.

“Yup. Now we just have to wait.” The other one, clad in blue rags underneath the armor, answered, sitting down on a fallen tree a couple of meters away from Virgil.

“How long wll’t take?” the bald one asked, standing under the shade a tree was casting in the corner of the small grass clearing they stopped at.

“Dunno, do I look like I know dumm’as?” The blue-clad person shouted back angrily, making both Virgil and the person on the ground flinch. It wasn’t looking good with how angry and annoyed everyone started to look, and as the man lifted a small stone off the ground, the witch watched him with disgust as he threw it at a curious squirrel that happened to stop by them. The man laughed and cast another stone, making Virgil's blood boil, but he didn’t move.

“F’off, I js’t ask’d!” they asked, their lips wobbling a little as if he had difficulty with talking, which made Virgil reconsider his state. Were they poisoned? The previous man took up yet another stone, this time a little bigger and threw it at the person on the ground, laughing loudly as the person groaned in pain.

”Stop it with the throwing, man!” The last, featureless man shouted, kicking up a pine cone.

“C’mooon, it's just for fun, I'm bored! Watch me.” He answered, picking up few another rocks, throwing one of them at a bypassing hedgehog. The second stone he threw again at the vulnerable and helpless animal. The last one hitting at the bald man square in the head. Virgil considered ripping apart that sorry excuse of a man.

“F’ck yooouuuu.” The man shouted as his fist collided with the blue-clad man’s chin. Virgil flinched, almost feeling the blow himself as a tooth had shot out of the punched man's face and landed on the grass in front of Virgil. Nice. A bloodied, half-rotten, yellow tooth.

Virgil grinned, his sharp canines almost piercing the skin of his lips as he reached for the tooth with his slender fingers. He looked at it as he rolled it around in his hand, smiling widely as an idea flew through his mind. Oh, his grandmother would be proud.

As their folk sought protection all these years ago, the forest gave them their blessing and offered shelter… and for a witch, this amount of kindness was something very important and not to be looked down on, no matter what. It was a favor, that the spirits of this Forest didn’t ask for any kind of repayment for, but as you grew up with all kind of mythical beings around you, you learn fast that unpaid debt is not to be messed with.

It was about time Virgil repaid the great Spirit of the Forest as these men threatened it with their stupid behavior.

Lesson number one.

You don’t go around harming innocent beings just for fun.

”” Virgil whispered, bringing the tooth up to his mouth.

As Virgil let the tooth slip through his fingers, he watched the yellowish bone bounce off of a branch and land on the grass, every single surface that made contact with the tooth turning to grey ash as life was absorbed from it and channeled into the object, letting the incantation do its thing.

The hex didn’t take a long time to set in.

As the two fighting men clashed their fists, Virgil watched as the bald man suddenly stopped, his movements growing more sluggish until they finally stopped, his hands grasping at his throat.

The man coughed once.

Then twice.

Then thick, thick dark liquid appeared on his lips, slowly pouring out of his mouth as he stared at his blood covered hands, horrified.

Everything went eerily silent, not even the forest letting the quietest of sounds as time seemed to slow down for the little group in the middle of the small meadow. Every single leaf stopped to rustle in the wind, the insects stopped singing, birds closing their beaks and muffling any of their chirpings. Not even wind whistled, stopping to a halt as if it awaited, too, for the breaking point.

Then, suddenly, the blue-clad man screamed, fear audible in his voice, echoing through the forest with a frightening jingle to it, bringing warmth to the pit of witch’s stomach.

The two men watched the blue-clad one get paler second by second with mixed reactions until finally, the man’s skin turned dull grey, becoming transparent, showing off a tangle of black and blue veins on the man's body. As the man raised his fingers to his nose, then eyes and finally ears, he noticed all the sickly dark blood dribbling slowly out of him, in small intricate paths, gathering in a small pool underneath his trembling legs as he slowly started losing his consciousness.

Almost a minute later man fell lifeless to the ground with a loud thud, his body going limp, snapping the few dry branched that were laying around him.

It didn’t even take another few seconds as the remaining two men had run away, leaving both bodies of the blue-clad man and the mysterious person behind, screaming their hearts out. Virgil chuckled as thick wooden vines raised from the ground and embraced the now dead man's body, entangling its roots and twigs around the corpse, dragging it back into the dark pit it slowly emerged from in a short span of time with a muffled sound of cracking barn and squishing moss.

 

It wasn’t like the forest couldn’t defend itself. It was actually far from it.

The magic here was so pure and powerful a mere human was able to sense it; hundreds of spirits, fairies and nymphs living and caring for the place to the best of their possibilities.

But sometimes, even the strongest needed a hand, and Virgil was glad to be able to help such a divine deity.

 

His grandmother would really be proud.

 

A moan snapped Virgil back to reality.

He looked down at the remaining person in front of him.

_**Why didn’t the forest take care of it?** _

He took a few careful steps, towards them.

Kneeling down by it, Virgil raised his hand and grasped for the linen material, dragging it off of the person's head, being welcomed by a stare of the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen in his entire life. His breath caught in his throat as he watched them blink rapidly at the sudden change in the lightning. Totally enchanted by those eyes, Virgil watched the twisted in pain face relax and welcome him with a smile so warm and sweet it almost melted the witch on the spot.

“Thank you so much for saving my life, fair maiden. I'd like to-“

“Fuck you.” Virgil spat as the spell he found himself under had been broken the moment the person opened their mouth, finding himself more irritated with the person than he ever was with any other, offended at the comment. “I'm a man, you blind twig.” Virgil growled, standing up and leaving the baffled person on the ground by themselves, shock still permanent in their features.

“I'm sorry! Please don’t leave me! Please! Help me!” They shouted after the witch.

 

 

Virgil sighed, not understanding the reason why he came back or cut the ropes restraining the beautiful person, but he did.

 

 

 

He just hoped he wouldn’t regret his decision later on.

 

 

 

_**Fuck.** _

 

What had he done?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovely friends! I just wanted to say hello!  
> And... to maybe explain those weird markings in the middle of the chapter as Virgil hexed the brute.  
> For anyone who wondered, it literally meant 'bleed', but written in Theban alphabet :)
> 
> It's nothing special, but just in case You were curious! The Theban alphabet is actually not spoken, only written, but I wanted to show You all when Virgil would be casting spells and I just figured it would be a cool way to do it like this!
> 
> Feel free to ask me about anything, I really enjoy answering all of Your questions!  
> I appreciate all of Your effort and input, but when You find some grammar or any other shit, please cut me some slack... Until like I make some real shit mistake, then feel free to shout at me xD
> 
> Love You all <3


	3. 53324,5 days until trial.

It was getting bothersome.

The man Virgil had saved didn’t listen to him and wouldn’t leave him alone, no matter what he had tried to do.

Virgil shouted at the man.

He insulted him.

He even threatened to kill him, even if all he did was bluff because the Forest wouldn’t take a liking to it and he knew it, but damn if his lying wasn’t really good.

But the man didn’t want to leave his side, at least not until they left the forest and he’d repay him for his kindness. Virgil proposed that if the man would just go back to where he came from and never came back would be the most ideal form of repayment, but no, of course, that wasn’t what the man would want to do.

As Virgil jumped across the small river he heard a small gasp behind him. He turned around immediately, his fight-or-flight taking over instantly, ready to defend himself from whatever caught the man’s attention. All he did see thou was the man pointing at him with wide eyes and a hand clasping over his mouth.

“You’re hurt!” The man semi-shouted, motioning to Virgil’s leg. Huh. He hasn’t noticed.

“And you’re annoying.” Witch just deadpanned and resumed walking, not giving the pale limb a second glance. It had to be some branch that he got caught in and left scratches deep enough to let small droplets of blood trail down his left which made the man worried.

“Wait. Here, let me.” The man pleaded, suddenly grabbing Virgil by his elbow and startling the boy shitless in the process, so if it wasn’t for Virgil almost decking him in his stomach but stopping abruptly coming back to his senses, he would have deserved it. The man just crouched down and ripped a part of his sleeve with intentions of wrapping it around the witch’ leg.

Virgil just took a step back, not letting the handsome but really annoying man touch him.

“Are you really that stupid? Don’t get this near me. Do you even know how dirty that rag is? It would only infect the perfectly clean and propped scratches, you twig.” Virgil growled, sending the cloth a look so dirty he wouldn’t be surprised if it suddenly caught on fire. It did happen once.

“I-I'm sorry for worrying for y-your health!” The person huffed annoyed, stuffing the material in one of his pockets instead of just throwing the now useless piece of clothing on the ground. Virgil watched his actions with attentive eyes, humming quietly under his breath. “Who are you?” A question pulled Virgil out of his thoughts but didn’t really please him all that much.

“Rude. And stupid.”

“Stupid? Why me asking for the name of my savior is stupid?”

“Just because. Don’t you know names hold great power around here? You don’t just go throwing them around, waiting for somebody to use them against you. Besides, why should I even tell you?” Virgil argued, motioning with his arm around the sunny and innocently looking trees and bushes and occasional flowers littering their surroundings. He huffed annoyed, opting to just continue walking after a moment of silence between the two. Hey, maybe he’d be able to just lose the guy somewhere on his way home. Or he’d stumble upon a Fae or something. Not even bones would be left of him. Virgil let a small smile escape him as he secured the rabbits he had hanging over his shoulder and huffed, cursing the rope that started to burn his skin on the neck. As much as he was ‘more durable’ than humans, simple things as rope burns or stubbed toe weren’t really something his magic protected him from. As if the power keeping him alive wanted to let him suffer just for the fun of it.

“Because you saved me and I would like to know the name of my knight.” He argued, but after he didn’t get any kind of answer for at least full two minutes, he just sighed. “I can help you carry those.” The man offered, choosing to not let the cold shoulder the man in front of him gave him get to him.

“I didn’t save you. I was getting those barbarians out of the forest, nothing else. You just happened to be there as we-” Virgil explained, frowning as he stopped to a halt, catching in his peripheral vision a glimpse of the man beside him staring at him. “Could you just- stop- doing that?!” Virgil shouted, turning around, baring his sharp canines at the annoying man.

“I’m sorry! I-I just- I never saw someone as beautiful as you, that’s a-all! I swear!” He put his hands up, in front of his face, showing he didn’t mean any harm.

Virgil blushed heavily, not expecting the nice words. He could almost see himself, his face burning crimson and eyes wide and unbelieving, his mouth slightly agape in shock, clearly flustered. It wasn’t really that often someone complimented him.

It took Virgil a while to come back to his senses, but in the end he just huffed, ignoring the beaming smile the man send him, turning around and stomping angrily ahead of him.

Stupid man, with his stupidly beautiful eyes and even more stupid handsome face and stupidly nice body!

\---

“My name is Elijah. I… I’m the pri- I mean, I’m a farmer. Ye- Yeah. You know- I was working… I was attending my horses when- You know, these men took me.” Elijah suddenly spoke after a while, interrupting the silence that dawned upon them.

“You shouldn’t be giving me your name, stupid. It’s going to be the death of you.”

“Wha- Why?” The blonde man asked, startled.

“Whatever, it’s too late anyway. And sure. Three knights just happened to kidnap a random person from their home. Of course.” Virgil mocked the man, not really believing his story. Oh, come on. It was obvious it was a lie, okay? Virgil wasn’t just being a skeptic, besides, the man stuttered too much for just retelling what had happened to him. It was more like he had come up with the story on the go.

“I-I mean, they probably mistook me for someone.” Elijah tried to defend himself.

“Yeah, sure…”

“Okay, okay. You got me. These men weren’t knights. Mercenaries, rather. And I’m not a farmer either, I’m the prince. My father, Arthur the Great, current king of these lands wanted me to marry a princess of the bordering kingdom and I just- I panicked, okay! I didn’t want it! I tried to tell him that but he wouldn’t listen so I- I just ran. Ran away and got kidnapped like some idiot. I was meant to be sold by these three men to the hands of the greatest enemy of my father, Micheal the Bloody Baron of the Scorching Lands to be probably used as leverage or executed. Look, I even have a letter with-” He explained haphazardly, his words flowing out of his mouth like a river, fast and unstoppable, shoving a piece of paper in front of Virgil’s face. The young witch just glanced at the letter, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“You know that these letters and names tell me nothing? Do I look like I care who you actually are or what you were doing here?” Virgil sighed, rolling his eyes and ignoring the fact that he did indeed follow these men out of curiosity in the first place.

“You… You don’t know who I am? Or who the king is?” He asked deadpanned.

“No? Why should I?”

“Because he is your king!”

“I am not one of a man’s property, watch your words or I shall rip your tongue out of your mouth I hear you saying something like that again!” Virgil growled, sending cold glance towards now a clearly embarrassed man in front of him. Blood boiled in the witches’ body at the mere mention of his kind being under the reign of some crude magicless mortal. After everything the human kind did to his people-

“!-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like this, I swear! I just- My father is just- You know how Kings and Queen work, right? I wasn’t trying to-“

“Oh the Great Dragon Spirit of Sa’arhaad, hold me or I’ll lose it with this man.” Virgil sighed, hiding his face in the palms of his hands, his mentality almost broken. “Look, Elijah, or whatever name you gave me. I couldn’t care less for your King or Queen… Or for who you actually are, so could you, please, stop nagging me? I see how things are. You were unhappy, you ran away, got kidnapped. But you’re free now, so just go and continue whatever you were doing before all of this shit. I don't mind, really.” Virgil proposed, pinching the bridge of his nose, having already enough for the day. Curse his damn curiosity. He should have just left the man for the Forest to take care of.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“And so? It’s not my problem.”

“Well, I was hoping you’d let me stay with you.”

“You were what?”

“I m-mean, Not for free! I could help you out, around… wherever you live! I’m in excellent health and I’m really strong! I could do the manual work for you! I can’t really hunt or tend farms, but you could show me!” Elijah beamed happily, suddenly really excited. Virgil started wondering if he accidentally pushed the man into the river and cast a weighting charm on his clothes the Forest would bite him back for it. Maybe. Maybe not. But it would be worth it, probably. The longer Elijah flapped the pretty mouth of his, the closer was Virgil to actually murdering him. 

“You don’t look strong.” He said instead.

“I bet I’m stronger than you thou.” Elijah looked at him baffled.

“I doubt.” Virgil thought of how he usually ripped trees barehanded with most roots still intact whenever they got out of wood for their fireplace, just because he couldn’t bother with looking for the makeshift axe his mother brought one day a few years ago. Since then Virgil used sheer force to just rip the trees apart. Maybe it was more bothersome, like getting a ton of splinters in his hands, but he was too lazy to actually look for the item. He was pretty sure one of the Forest Nymphs took it anyway.  

“Please, I can do anything! I’m a great swordsman-“ the blonde tried again.

“And look how that played out for you.” Virgil bit back with sarcasm.

“I can coo- Well, okay, I can’t cook, but-“

“Look, there’s nothing that you could possibly do that would be of use to me, so go find someone else to annoy. I bet you’d find more luck in the town nearby than up here in the mountains.” Virgil suggested, really hoping the man would rather go look for help in a place more familiar to him, such as the small town-like cluster of houses and barns.

“I can read! A-and write!” He said suddenly, catching Virgil’s attention. “I- I could teach you.” He said, suddenly remembering Virgil mentioning he couldn’t understand the letters on the piece of paper he showed him earlier.

It wasn’t common to not know how to write or read in their kingdom since the King's decreed was that every single child and adult within the borders to get educated so that the whole kingdom would benefit from it… and it was rather strange that the man who saved him was unable of it, but considering that he didn’t even know who the King was, it was possible his father’s orders didn’t reach the mountains yet.

“I can read. And write.” Virgil huffed, offended.

“But you said-“  
“I just- I can’t do it in your language.” Virgil clarified after a while, looking away slightly embarrassed, his sudden surge of anger dissipating momentarily.

“How so? You speak very well for somebody who apparently doesn’t know the language.” Elijah asked, curious.  
“It’s not that I don’t know your language, it is practically the same, verbally that is, it’s just that the one I use is not written like yours. It’s- It's much older.”

“You mean the Dead Tongue?”

“Dead Tongue?”

“Yes, it’s a name for the language that wasn’t used… for quite a while. Since the King Edward, the Third banned it from usage centuries ago. Well, not as much as banned, but more like erased it from existence. No one around here can use it anymore. Can… Can you use it?” Elijah asked hopefully.

“Didn’t I just say so?”

“I mean, can you really, really use it?” He clarified.

“Ugh, geemanetti, give me your arm.” Virgil fished a piece of charcoal out of his pocket and grabbed the man’s wrist, quickly scrabbling a small healing charm on an especially dark bruise Virgil winced at as quick as he saw. The charm wouldn’t work instantly since it was just a simple and mostly powerless spell, but the bruises on prince’s body would heal at least twice as fast as they normally would. If he had to write something down, it could be something useful at least, right? It wasn’t because he didn’t want the man hurting. He just pitied him, right? Right? Yeah.

“What does it mean?” The blonde man asked, awe apparent in both his voice and in his eyes.

“”

“Mari… gold? Is it marigold?”

“Yeah, didn’t you hear?”

“I mean, yeah, but it just sounded… different. Kinda. It did sound like the language we are speaking now, but completely different at the same time, you know?” He asked, really trying to explain the strange feeling he got from the incantation.

“No, not really.”

“But why ‘marigold’?”

“No reason, I just saw it on the way,” Virgil explained, skipping over the fact that the flowers of marigold were said to have healing abilities when used correctly, and for a witch even as much as its name was far more powerful than the plant itself. It wasn’t about the flower, but the meaning behind it when it came to casting spells. Something the prince surely wouldn’t understand.

“Where did you learn it?”

“Not your business.”

“I suppose. So… can I stay? I’ll teach you everything I know! A-and help around the house!” He added quickly.

Virgil stopped, considering all the possibilities his choice would bring.

He didn’t really want the man to stick around. Especially since he was a human. A human in Mountains full of Mythical Beings.

He was a risk.

A huge, huge risk-

What if he would find about Virgil not being a human like him?  
What if he found other Mythicals and decided to tell somebody, bringing doom upon the innocent creatures?  
What if he would-  
What if somebody came looking for the man?  
What if-  
  
But on the other side… Knowledge was power.

More specifically the art of language. It was something his grandmother told him once. That words held tremendous power behind them and being able to use it was something a proper witch should be striving to do.

Virgil never actually wanted power, he wasn’t as greedy as other witches like himself usually were. He was content with what he already had, so he never actually had a reason to need it. It was rather useless here with only family around and he wasn’t planning on using magic like his grandmother did- in strife and war, but…

“I’ll consider it. I’m not saying yes-“

“But neither are you saying no!”

“It’s not for me to decide, actually. There’s somebody else who is the one to have a say in this.”

Maybe his mother would have a better idea as to what to do with the petty human.

\---

“He can stay.”

“What?” Virgil spat, not really expecting an answer like this coming from his mother. She HATED humans! How could she even muster to let these words get through her throat?! “But why? Didn’t you-“

“Son. As much as I don’t really want to let him be around here, he already saw too much.” Elenore sighed, mentioning the brief encounter of Elijah and a light fairy. The purest and most innocent of beings living in these woods, resembling very much a helpful spirit of the Forest just flew in front of his face and refused to leave, dancing around him happily as if he wasn’t one of the most bloodthirsty and deceitful creatures to ever had walked on earth.

“But you despise humans!” Virgil whisper-shouted, gesticulating wildly with his hands.

“Of course I do, there’s nothing more filthy than a human, but you saw the light Fairy! He is under Forest’s protection. We can’t hurt him without dealing with grave consequences. If we were to let him go now, he would tell somebody and the guards would kill all of us. Besides, as fast as he dies naturally, out of his own stupidity, we can eat him.”

“Mother. I'm not eating anybody. Can’t we just- I don’t know, erase his memories or something? You should be able to!”

“Just listen to yourself. What did I just say? And besides, you know I gave an oath to not harm another living creature?”

“I know, but- That’s something else! He is a threat to all of us!”

“Then why did you bring him here? Why didn’t you kill him himself, hm?”

“I-“ Virgil started, but stopped, not really knowing what to say.

“Exactly. You brought him here so now he is your problem. And that is the end of this discussion! If I ever sense a whiff of dark energy coming from your mouth, I’ll make sure to rip all of your teeth out again!

\---

“So what are you? It didn’t really sound as if you two identified as humans.” Elijah asked after eavesdropping  Virgil’s talk with his mother.

“You know you can never leave now, right? I tried to warn you.”

“Maybe I don’t want to leave?”

“But if you knew what is best for you, you should.”

“Then apparently I’m too dumb to notice.”

“A witch. I’m one out of two witches of the Sa’arhaad cult that are left after you humans slaughtered the rest of us.”


End file.
